Code presentation register



R. T. BLAKELY Oct. 9, 1945.

CODE PRESENTATION REGISTER Filed May 4, 1944 I! Eww 2 2520mm E3555INVENTOR ROBERT T BLAKELY.

ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 9, 1945 2,386,423 CQDE PRESENTATION REGISTERRobert T Blalcely, Silver Spring,

lira, assignor to International Business Machines Corporatlon, New York,N. Y.,

York

a corporation of New 7 Application May 3, 1944, Serial No. 534,133 6i'llalms. (Cl. 235-l25l This invention relates to photographic record--ing machines and more particvlarly .to the type wherein numerical datamay he photographicaiiv recorded on a film by coded designations on aframe thereon. Such coded designations are utilioeci to controlstatistical tabvlating machines and the like.

In one aspect, the invention relates to a photographic recording systemfor providing coclecl digit representations on 9. Elm corresponding tothe numerical represents-tics an'item counter but in its broader aspectsit is not limited to an item counter, and equivalent structures may heutilized.

I has been proposed heretofore to record on a. film coded digitrepresenting designations of tievices which have been clifierentiallyset'either manually or by control devices, in the machine, but to extendthe usefulness of the tahulating system controlled by coded designationson films it is ciesirahle to secure coded designations on films whichcorrespond with the numerical data on data representing wheelslt'would,of course, not'oe feasible to photograph the spots if they were placedon a digit representing wheel in view of the fact that a plane surfacecould not he photographed and the digit representations would notoccurat the required differential positions on the film. The recessionof the spot representation from either side away from the positionimmediately in frontof the camera, or which would ordinarily constitutethe digit reading line would not enable the oeslrecl spot representationon the film at the required olifiereritially located positions, and ifso recorded would appear distorted on the film.

This disadvantage is overcome by the present structure which consists ofa. tape, hancl, or the like geared to he cirlven by the related eligitrepresenting wheel, said tape carrying a spot representation to bephotographed. According to the successive digit positions oi the wheelthe spot representation on the band is located at the reqoireddifierential digit representing positions and the recording on the frameof the film enables the similar photographic recording.

item counters, accumulators, etc, utilized in the caluculating machineart, usually comprise a series of wheels and with the presentimprovement applied. to such devices a plurality of bands, strips,tapes, or the like are provided. These hands are mounted injuxtaposition and a portion of each is extended in a straight line topresent a. plane area immediately in front of the camera whichconstitutes the photographic area. Within resetting of such deviceswhether this area the spots are difierentially be photographed on thefilm.

This construction can he var-led in many ways and the present disclosureshould not be con.- sidered as the only Way of carryhig out the basicidea. Irrespective of the variations the important feature of securinga. plane photographic area can be derived by the use or a tape, hand,strip, or the like driven by relate-cl cligit wheel.

The provision of an endless tape further eh= ables the uni-directionalrotation of the type representing wheels, essential in ac emulators oritem counters to accumulate t me on rice therein. The provision of theendless ta linther enables it is effected by rotation of the wheels inthe same oirection as digit entries are made therein or in a reversedirection. 'Further, unit carries may he carriecl Without confilict.

Accorclingly, the main object of the present invention is the provisionof means setta'ole by the rlifierential rotation of item wheels of. itemcounter, digit representing wheels or an accumulator or the like toeffect a spot representation in a plane photographic area for recordingon o, film the numerical representation in statistical code.

A more specific object of the invention resides in the provision of aplurality of tapes or hands carrying said spot representations andarranging the tape or band in juxtaposition and in such fashion thatthey furnish a plane photographic area.

Still further objects reside in the specific construction of the tape orhands, the material therefor, the mountings therefor and thespecific-a1- rangement which eficiently fulfills the object to derivesimplicity in design.

Other objects or" the invention will be pointed out in the followingdescription and claims ahcl illustrates in the accompanying drawing,which discloses, by Way of example, the principle of the invention andthe best mode, which has been con.- temple-ted, of applying thatprinciple.

in the drawing:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic representation of a series or digitrepresenting Wheels, the associated spot representing bands and alsoshows diagrammatically a camera for photographing the spotrepresentations.

Fig. 2 is a front View showing the front register plate, with theappearance of the spot representetions on the bands constituting thephotographic area.

- Fig. 3 is a fragmentary portion of the film disposed to grantedJanuary 15, 1924,

showing the appearance and location of the numeral representing spots ona frame.

The present invention is particularly useful in connection withtelephone registers or counters. Such registers 01' item counters may beof the well known Veeder type, one form of which is shown in patent toC. H. Veeder, No. 1,480,738, although other types of item counters maywork equally well. Each telephone subscriber has an associated counterwhich is actuated a unit each time that a telephone call is made. Asutilized in a telephone accounting system, banks of such counters havebeen used, one for each subscriber. At the termination of an accountingperiod, the reading of the counter is obtained and the total numericalvalue provides the basis for making out the subsequent telephone bill.It is usually the practice to make an additional charge if the number oftelephone calls exceeds the predetermined amount established in thecontract with the user..

When the card controlled tabulating system is used as a basis for makingthe telephone bills, it

has been the practice to read the numerical representation on thecounting wheels and then punch a tabulating card which is utilized tocontrol subsequent tabulating and billing operations.

By the incorporation of the present improvement the numerical value ofthe counter may be transcribed to a photographic film to control suchbilling and accounting operations.

Referring now to the preferred embodiment, reference numerals l0represent a series of digit representing wheels and in the case of acounter the units wheel is actuated a unit for each counting operation.As is well known, upon the passage of a wheel through zero, a unitstransfer is effected to the next higher wheel and so on. This is theconventional units transfer mechanism for such type of counter and iswell known.

Such digit wheels may also constitute wheels of an accumulator or otherdigit representing device. Whether such wheels have associated transfermechanism therebetween or are simply rotated to digit representingpositions to effect the storage of a numerical value i immaterial. Theessential feature is that digit representing wheels are utilized.

Encircling each digit representing wheel is a tape, band, or strip Hwhich is preferably endless when the wheels are rotateduni-directionally. The band i l, as it will hereinafter be designated,is substantially the width of the digit representing wheel and isprovided with marginal feeding holes 12 received by the gear teeth i3which-may be an integral part of each representing wheel or part of agear attached to said wheel. The endless band ll passes around a seriesof rollers i5, i5, 16, ll so as to obtain free travel of the same by therotation of the digit representing wheel. Each band consists of one ormore sections, the length of each section being equal tothecircumierence of the wheel which drives the band. Each section of theband is provided with an opaque spot representation l8.

The connections between the wheel and the associated band are such thatfor each successive digit position of the wheel the band will move in astraight line to the distance of one unit. If the wheel is arranged toaccumulate decimal entries, the ten digit receiving steps of movementgiven to the wheel will effect ten steps of movement of the band I i andtherefore the spot representation 58 carried thereby. Therefore, betweenthe upper and lower limits of the position of the located atdifferential locations of numerical code designations in the Hollerithcode. This will be clear from Fig. 1 wherein it will be seen that thethree left hand spot representations have been positioned to represent531 in the Hollerlth code.

Preferably the bands are arranged in juxtaposition and are so spacedapart according to the denominational columns of the spot representationon the film. The photographic area in one dimension is threforedependent upon the number of bands arranged in juxtaposition and thevertical dimension of the photographic area is the length of each bandbetween the-rollers I6 and I7. Therefore, with the arrangement shown inFig. 1 a photographic area constituting a plane surface is provided. I

This photographic area is preferably arranged in front of the digitrepresenting wheels, the width of the bands being sufllcient to coverthe wheels. When the digit representing wheels are mounted as a unitarystructure with a register cover l9, the spot representations It willappear as shown in Fig. 2. The front register cover may be provided withlongitudinal windows 20 through which such spot representations appearand other integral parts of the front cover may be utilized toeffectively conceal or cover the gear teeth I3 of the digit representingwheels and the feeding holes l2 of the tapes i i.

In the present drawing, for illustrative purposes, the spots i8 areshown as dark portions on a light background but-in actual practice thereverse may be provided. That is to say, the background may be blackwith the spots appearing as the color of the tape which is preferablywhite. The final record on the photographic film will then appearreverse to Fig. 3 or as a white spot on a black background, or as anegative film.

If so desired the digits may remain on the periphery of the wheel andappear through a. semi-translucent band. Therefore, at the reading line(the 5 line of Fig. 1) the digit representations of the wheels may beread through the tape and be photographed on the film appearing ratherlightly as shown dotted in Figs. 2 and 3 so as not to interfere with thestatistical control operations. With this modification, verification ofthe digit representations of the Wheels can 'be provided, in case it isnecessary to check this from the viewpoint of accuracy.

01' course, where the endless band is made up of several sections asdescribed, any section of the tape may be utilized for the photographicarea.

The manner of gearing the tape and the digit representing wheels ispreferably of the arrangement shown wherein it will be seen that at thetangential point of contact the gear teeth 13 pass through the feedingholes ii of the band II. If so desired the band may partially surroundthe digit representing wheels so that more gear teeth will pass throughthe feeding holes of the band to secure a more positive drive. With thisconstruction the photographic area will then not be this pointof'gearing connection and another section of the band may then beutilized. The above is merely an explanation of a modification which isobvious and which will not require further showing. In the same way,other changes may be made, all of which are within the spirit of theinvention.

Associated with the arrangement just described and which isdiagrammatically illustrated. The recording camera is aligned byaligning pins 21 of the camera seated in holes 22 of the register cover.Thus, the photographic area and the spot representations arephotographed on the film 23 which is advanced to the extent of one frameafter each picture. The same camera C may always be associated with thesame register or the camera may be selectively associated with aplurality of registers of the counting bank. thereby obtaining on thefilm a transcription of the numerical representation of a series ofregisters.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out thefundamental novel features of the invention, as applied to a singleembodiment, it will be understood that various omissions andsubstitutions and changes in the form and details of the deviceillustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intentiontherefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the followingclaims:

What is claimedis:

1. In an arrangement for obtaining simultane ously a photographic recordof a digit value indication and a coded representation of the same digitvalue indication, a counting element carrying opaque digit valueindications positionable to be visible at a reading line, and atransparent band in front of said element through which such digit valueindication are visible, bearing an opaque spot and movablecorrespondingly with such counting element to cause said opaque spot tobe variably positioned from'a datum line to digit representing positionscorresponding to the digit value indication at said reading line.

2. In a device for obtaining simultaneously a numerical and codedrepresentation of the same digit value comprising an item countercarrying digit value representations, a transparent band through whichthe digit value representations are visible, tangential to the itemcounter and bearing an opaque spot, and driving means interposed betweensaid item counter and transparent band so that the opaque spot isvariably positioned with relation to the point oftangency according tothe value of the digit value representation on the item counter which isvisible at the point of tangency.

3. In an apparatus for obtaining on a film a photographic recording ofdigit representations in code, a series of axially aligned rotatabledigit representing wheels. of an accumulator or item counter, each wheelof which is rotatable unidirectionally to accumulate or count successivedigit entries therein represented by digit representations inscribed onthe wheel circumference, a transparent band through which the digitrepresentations of the related wheel are visible and carrying a spotrepresentation in an area to be photographed to represent by adiilerentially disposed coded designation on the film thecorrespendingnumerical representation of the related wheel, means for adiacentlymounting said bands toiprovide in front or said wheels a photographicarea in which all the diflerentlal p ns of the spots and theircorresponding digit representation on the wheel circumference may appearthrough said transparent band for photographic reproduction, and gearingmeans carried by each wheel cooperating with feeding holes of therelated band for moving said band and the spot carried thereby todifferent digit representing positions in the photographic areacorresponding to the digit representations of the wheel appearingthrough said band.

"4. In an arrangement for obtaining simulta-- neously a photographicrecord of a digit value indication and a coded spot representationthereof, a digit representing element carrying opaque digit valueindications, and a transparent band in front of said elementpositionable concomitantly with said element and of sufflcienttransparency to enable said digit value indications to be visiblethrough said band for a photographic reproduction readable on a film butunresponsive as a control means for a film-controlled machine, andcarrying an opaque spot differentially positionable to correspond in itscoded digit representation with the digit value at the reading line andwhen photographed efiecting a spot representation on a film responsiveas a control means for said film-controlled machine.

5. In an arrangement for obtaining simultaneously a photographic recordof a digit value indication and a coded representation of the same digitvalue, a digit representing element carrying opaque digit valueindications positionable at a reading line, and a transparent bandpositionable concomitantly with said element through which said opaquedigit value indications are readable and bearing an apaque spotpositionable differentially to represent by a coded representation thedigit value readable at the printing line, said digit value indicationreadable at the reading line comprising means for visually verifying thecoded representation.

6. In an apparatus for obtaining on a Him a photographic digitrepresentation in code simultaneously with a corresponding digitrepresentation, a series of digit representing wheels of an accumulatoror item counter to accumulate or count digit entries therein representedby digit representations inscribed on the wheel circumference, atransparent band for each wheel and carrying a spot representation in anarea to be photographed to represent the corresponding digitrepresentation of the related wheel by a coded spot designationphotographed on the film in a well defined outline responsive as acontrol means for film-controlled machines, means to dispose saidtransparent band in front of the related wheel to enable said inscribeddigit representations to be visible through said band to be photographedsimultaneously with the spot representation but reduced in definitionaccording to the transparency of the band to provide a readable outlineunresponsive for controlling the aforesaid film-controlled machine, andmeans to drive said band concomitantly with the related wheel to movethe spotcarried thereby to different digit representing positions in thephotographic area.

ROBERT T. BLAKELY.

